The presence of U.S. Treasury bills in their portfolios does not shield Tether and Circle from a sudden liquidity crisis. This was stated by Christoph Hock, head of tokenization and digital assets at Union Investment, at the Digital Money Summit 2026, according to CoinDesk.
According to him, USDT and USDC do not appear to be full-fledged fiat money equivalents for transactions. Hock believes that the reserve structure of the largest issuers resembles a speculative fund more than a conservative monetary instrument. In the case of Tether, he specifically pointed out investments in gold and Bitcoin.
The expert estimates that such a model transfers market risk to token holders and makes “stablecoins” vulnerable in stressful situations when many investors simultaneously need liquidity.
As an example, Hock recalled episodes of USDC’s decoupling from the dollar. In March 2024, the token momentarily dropped to $0.74, and in 2023 it lost about 13%, falling to $0.87.
The expert described such a drop as unacceptable for corporate treasuries and asset managers using these instruments as quasi-cash for short-term settlements.
Tether’s reserve structure also drew criticism. As of January 2026, the firm accumulated 148 tons of gold worth $23 billion, ranking among the 30 largest holders of the precious metal.
According to Hock, such asset choices expose corporate treasuries to market volatility, turning the stablecoin into a “hidden hedge fund.”
In May, Tether published its financial report for the first quarter, with a net profit of $1.04 billion.
In the same month, Circle announced the launch of the ARC token. During the presale, the firm raised $222 million from a group of investors, including a16z crypto, BlackRock, and Apollo Funds.